Abstract

In his book Poetics of Relation, Martinican essayist, poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant presents his thoughts on decolonization, culture and identity where universality should be understood as relations constructed upon diversity instead of unity. This premise opens the discussion on what Glissant calls the theory of opacity, a central concept in my research. Also known as the right to opacity, its aim is to protect cultural difference and to resist assimilative pressures of colonialism. In this thesis, I posit that carnival masks are the material embodiment of this right to opacity. I examine Haiti’s Jacmel Carnival in recent years and consider how papier mâché artist Didier Civil, through his narrative driven practice, contributes to sustaining the collective memory and identity of Jacmelians. I explore the 2022 Jacmel Carnival « Les Créations Didier Civil » featuring COVID-19 virus as a carnivalesque theme. I also reflect on the contemporary relevance of carnival traditions within diasporic Caribbean communities in Montréal and Toronto, alongside Glissant’s opacity to analyze how they navigate Canada’s multicultural mosaic. My research methodology is Afrocentric, centring mostly Black and Caribbean scholars, writers, and historians. This thesis underscores the importance and depth of Jacmel’s papier-mâché masks in the identity of its people and its impact in Haitian storytelling.